In addition to remedies that are available at the state level, such as garnishment of wages and state tax offset programs, the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act creates a federal criminal cause of action for parents who refuse to make court-ordered child support payments.

The Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act made it a federal crime for a parent who willfully failed to make child support payments by traveling or moving to another state to avoid making these payments. A parent can be charged with this crime if he or she meets the criteria above and either failed to make support payments for more than a year or that amounted to more than $5,000.

The act provides broad jurisdictional limits for the filing of such a case. It can be filed where the noncustodial parent lived, where the child lives, the state where the child did not receive child support or any other federal court.

Parents who are behind for more than a year or who owe more than $5,000 in back child support can be charged with a misdemeanor. This carries a possible imprisonment up to six months. The punishment increases to a felony if the amount owed is more than $10,000 or the parent is behind on payments for more than two years. Under this scenario, the parent can be imprisoned for up to two years. Punishments also increase for repeat offenses.

In addition to imprisonment, parents may also be required to pay a fine. They will also be subject to mandatory restitution in which they must pay back the amount that they owe at the time of sentencing. As of today, February 10, 2017, Deadbeat Dad Neal Rauhauser is 15 years behind on child support payments and currently owes $76,511.40.

We urge our supporters to report Neal for being such a blatant deadbeat dad. We will continue to expose him until he is behind bars.